Once Upon A beginings
by Seraphdragon7
Summary: This is the story of how the fairy godmother got her powers and how King Harold was turned into a frog and how he met Queen Lillian. I also tell about Shrek's parents, and Shrek and Fiona's childhood.
1. Chapter 1

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Shrek prequels

Once Upon A Beginning

Once upon a time, there was an ogre named Shrek who was quite unique. He was a good guy as far as ogres go, and his life was pretty ordinary until he met a talking donkey, then went on the adventure of a lifetime to rescue a beautiful, feisty princess from a tower guarded by a fire-breathing dragon. The adventure was of course not your typical fairytale, especially since the hero is an ogre, and there are many twists and turns in the story, and you'd be surprised who the villains are. Shrek married his true love, which was Princess Fiona, the same princess locked in the tower guarded by the dragon. She turned into an ogre at night, a condition that was made permanent with her true love's first kiss. Then Shrek met his in-laws, Fiona's parents, and to say that her father disapproved of the match would be to put things mildly. King Harold had made a deal many years before with the fairy godmother of Far Far Away that his daughter would marry her son Prince Charming. In the conspiracy that played out Shrek almost lost his wife to the fairy godmother's schemes, but King Harold sacrificed himself in the end to save Shrek and Fiona and stop the fairy godmother from ruining their marriage. King Harold was turned into a frog and the fairy godmother was destroyed.

Now you might be wondering about some things, such as how did Fiona's father King Harold find himself turned into a frog in the first place, and how did the fairy godmother help him break the enchantment when he met his wife Queen Lillian? Why did the fairy godmother hate ogres so much? Who is Prince Charming's father? Who are Shrek's parents? What was life like for Princess Fiona in the highest tower of the castle guarded by the dragon? All of these questions will be answered in my story of the beginnings of Shrek.

The fairy godmother of Far Far Away had a name, it was Arabella. Arabella wasn't born a fairy. She was human. She was born in a little farming village called Wheatfield near the forest in Far Far Away, many miles from the capitol city of Heather Wood. Her father was a farmer and her mother was the village herbalist, healer and midwife. Her father grew the various herbs and other plants for her mother's botanical business; she sold medicines, potions, beauty products, and household cleaning supplies. Her mother's reputation as a competent healer was widespread, and she rarely lost a patient. Her name was Bellora, and she passed on her knowledge to her two daughters Miranda and Arabella. Arabella's father was named Garret.__

Bellora of Wheatfield was a pretty, petite woman with long thick flaxen blond hair and blue-green eyes. Her daughters looked like her.

When Arabella was eight and her sister Miranda nine she was in her mother's store helping her mother make potions. The customers came in, and as usual they stopped for a while to gossip. Bellora wore a taupe dress, Miranda a terra cotta dress, and Arabella a tan dress.

Sally the barmaid was buying a wart-removal potion for her mother. She was a pretty, tall thin redhead with freckles and green eyes. She wore a dark green dress. "One of the rangers came into the tavern last night and he said ogres had been seen in the forest. It seems something is taking the game out of the traps that the local hunters set, it could be the ogres, but how could they be smart enough to disarm the traps?"

Mistress Jane, the shoemaker's wife, was in the store buying cold medicine. She was a short plump middle-aged woman with gray curls covered by a beige scarf wearing a yellow dress. "Ogres! Oh no, how terrible, what if they attack the village and go after our children?"

Arabella turned to her mother. "Are there really ogres in the woods, Mama?" She asked.

Bellora had often threatened her children that if they were bad the ogres would come get them and eat them, as did most of the village mothers to get their children to behave.

"I don't know, but now I do not think it is safe for us to go into the forest anymore."

"Perhaps we should get the men to form a group to hunt down the ogres and kill them." said Linda, the miller's wife, who was buying a potion for stomachaches. Linda was also middle aged, of average size and her black hair was going gray, she kept it covered with a white kerchief that matched the white apron she wore over her grayish blue dress with a laced-up bodice.

"But this ogre has not hurt anyone yet. He has not even gone near the village." Protested Bellora.

"And we should wait until after he does hurt somebody? Be sensible, Bellora. Said Jane.

"What if the ogre kills our men? Let us wait and see what happens. Maybe the ogre will go away. " Bellora said. "I will preparemedicines and bandages in case there is a fight."

That night, as Arabella lay next to her sister Miranda in the bed they shared together they talked before going to sleep. "What if the ogre does come into the village and attack us? What will we do?" Arabella asked her elder sister, feeling frightened. She hugged her rag doll Anneliese close to her, her mama had made the doll from sewing scraps and given her a beautiful red silk dress made from left over scraps of fabric from making holiday dresses for the girls. She often slept with the doll and it was a great source of comfort for her.

"I'm sure he'd want to eat you first, since you're nice and fat." Miranda said smugly.

"I am not! You take that back I am not fat!" Arabella pinched her sister on the arm and pulled the blanket away form her. Miranda pinched her back and began to shove her out of bed. Their parents in the bedroom below heard them fighting and pounded on the ceiling, which was their floor, yelling, "Knock it off you two, and go to sleep!" The girls obeyed, knowing they would get in big trouble if they did not.

Little Arabella went to sleep, and she had a nightmare about an ogre chasing her through a dark scary forest with gnarly trees with branches that looked like claws ready to grab her. In her dream she tripped over a tree root and she lay helpless on the ground while the huge scary ogre came after her and reached for her with big green hands twice the size of a normal man's hands with dirty fingers the size of sausages. His face was green and ugly with a roaring mouth that had sharp yellow teeth and an angry, hungry, bloodthirsty gleam to the small, beady dark eyes. Arabella woke up screaming just before the monstrous ogre could touch her.

Her mother came into the room. It was still night. "You've had a bad dream, darling." She said. "What was it?"

"This horrible ogre was after me."

"You're a good little girl, the ogres won't hurt you. It was just a dream. The men in our village know how to protect us from all kinds of monsters. Our house had protection spells on it, and no one uninvited can sneak in here. You know Papa and I keep you safe. I will make you a sleeping tonic so you won't have any more bad dreams."

Bellora took her into the kitchen and made a sleeping tonic to help her sleep and banish bad dreams. She poured it into some milk and added honey to sweeten it. Arabella drink the tonic. When she got back into her room, that she shared with her sister, she tookher little six inch fairy doll made from wood off the shelf. Her doll's name was Celandine and she was carved out of wood with joints at the neck, shoulders, elbows, hips and knees making her movable. She had a pair of butterfly wings carved from thin wood attached to her back. Arabella and Miranda were fortunate enough to have a few toys. There parents made good money and they were in the middle class in an age when most people were poor.

Arabella received the fairy doll for her birthday in January. Celandine was painted with yellow hair, blue eyes pink lips, the normal peach flesh tone, sky blue, pink and lavender dress and wings. Arabella liked her fairy doll Celandine the best. She rubbed the doll's face and gently touched her fairy wings for good luck and then climbed back into bed with her rag doll Anneliese. She had no more bad dreams.

The next day, after her chores were done Arabella and Miranda played with their friends their age in the village square. Arabella's best friend was another eight-year-old girl named Nanette. Miranda's best friend was also her own age, and her name was Karen. Their other friends were girls named Colleen, Danielle, and Rosemary. They played with the boys in the village, Jared, Stephen, Billy, and Adam. The children were playing prisoner's base, a game of tag where they divided into teams and had a certain area be the "dungeon" for each team, the one who was "it" would capture the other teams' players and put them in the dungeon, then their fellow team members would try to get them out without getting tagged themselves.

Arabella ran from Billy, who was the enemy team's "it." She was pretty fast. "I'll get you little girl." He said, pretending to be an ogre.

Arabella laughed, she knew she was faster than him. Billy was ten years old and big for his age, with unruly black hair and brown eyes.

She ran around the well and bumped into Danielle, who was on her team. She quickly skirted around her and hid behind a group of barrels next to the general store. Billy tagged Danielle, and Arabella felt guilty about it and decided to go to the other teams' base to get her out. She saw Karen the "it" for her team, catch Stephen and take him to the dungeon on their side. It was too bad it was against the rules to use the its to help you rescue prisoners on the other team's side. She would just have to do it by herself. Arabella bravely crossed to the other team's side and ran to the base where the "captives" were being held, looking quite bored and wishing their friends would get them out so they could be part of the game again. The "dungeon" area was next to the farmer's market where the most successful farmers in Wheatfield sold their best fruit and vegetables to those who did not have their talent of a green thumb. The dungeon on Arabella's side was in the shadow of the village inn and its stables.

Billy chased after Arabella, determined to tag her. He became distracted by Jared, on Arabella's side, who got in between the wide distance between them. Arabella grabbed Danielle's arm, and they ran towards their team's base at the inn where they would be safe. Jared managed to avoid being tagged and all three of them escaped from Billy. Unfortunately some of the prisoners, including Stephen, managed to escape from their team's dungeon while they were gone. In the end Arabella's team won the game.

"Hah hah, we won!" Arabella laughed and stuck her tongue out at Billy and the others on his team. Miranda had been on his team and she pouted and glared at her little sister. Billy and his friends were angry.

"The ogre's going to get you! You can't run fast enough to get away from the ogre. You've seen him in your dreams and that means you're destined to become his dinner. No magic can save you from the ogre your doomed!" Billy shouted at her.

"Liar! You're stupid and you don't know nothing! What do you know about ogres? Ogres only get bad kids and my mom says I'm very good and sweet. Maybe the ogre will come for YOU instead of me, since you talk about him so much." She retorted.

Arabella stormed off home. Miranda and Nanette followed her. It was a long walk home and it was getting late, the sun had already sunk below the horizon, but there was still an orange and rosy light in the sky, it was getting dark and the fireflies and stars were coming out. Arabella's mother owned the little herbal shop in the village, then on the outskirts of the village the family had a farm with a red brick farm house where they grew vegetables for the table and the herbs needed for Bellora's potions.

Arabella met her mother at the door and began to cry, telling her what happened.

"Mama, my friends and I won the game, but then Will said I was doomed to be eaten by the ogre just because I dreamed about him. Is it true Mama?"

"No, no, of course not, darling. I will never let any monster get a hold of you. I can protect you with my potions. Dreams are just dreams. I used to have bad dreams when I was a little girl too. Every child goes through this. Billy is a mean rotten little boy, he was jealous because he lost the game, and because you are faster than him. I will have a talk with his mother. Stay close to the village, the ogre is in the forest. As long as you stay out of the forest you will be fine." Bellora said.

"But Mama sometimes we have to go into the forest to collect plants for your potions. We need the berries, nuts, mushrooms, greens, herbs and roots growing wild in the forest that don't grow in the village." Miranda spoke up.

"You are right my child. Sometimes we must go gathering in the forest. When we do it is best to go in groups, so when I run low onsupplies I will organize a group of women and perhaps a man or two to go into the forest together. Maybe some of you children can come along for the fun of berry-picking as long as you behave and don't wander off." Said Bellora.

Arabella thought it would be exciting to go into the forest again, she had been in there a few times before with her mother. There was the danger of wild animals and monsters, but it was so beautiful and there was also the delight of friendly creatures like unicorns, fairies, elves, dwarves, gnomes, centaurs, satyrs, nymphs and good sylvan dragons.

On Saturday as Arabella was sweeping the store when Mistress Jane came in out of breath and called for Bellora.

"Did you hear the news?" she said.

Bellora shook her head.

"The ranger who patrols the forest found the remains of a hunter, his head and his hands and feet, partially buried in a remote part of the forest. This must be the ogres' work. I know there are also goblins in that part of the forest, but they aren't half as aggressive as ogres are. Count Bernhard has put up a bounty on the ogre's head, a reward of one thousand gold coins for anyone who can slay the ogre and bring proof of his death to him."

"How horrible!" Bellora said. "That poor man... I hope a hero comes along and kills this ogre. That way we will feel safe again."

"Oh, by the way, I came in here to buy some of your lavender-scented beauty soap." Jane remembered why she was there.

Bellora found a freshly-made bar of her special lavender scented soap wrapped up in paper and put it in a brown paper bag. "There you go, that will be three silver coins and five copper coins."

Jane paid the price and left the store with her package.

Arabella turned to her mother. "The ogre killed someone. What will we do?"

"Nothing we can do, just stay out of it. I'm sure that with the reward out there some knight will come along and slay him for the money." Her mother told her.

A few weeks later Bellora found herself with a great dilemma. She was running short on supplies. It was June and the wild blueberry bushes in the meadow in the outskirts of the forest would be filled with lots of ripe, plump, juicy blueberries. Now was the perfect Nature was her pharmacy, and she needed some medicinal plants from the forest for her potions and medicines. Arabella was scared and reluctant to go into the forest, but she loved blueberries and her mother promised to make her blueberry muffins when they got home. The forest really was pretty and it was exciting after all.

Bellora, Miranda, Arabella, Nanette, her mother Priscilla, Karen, her mother Lucy, Sally, her mother Hannah, and Karen's father and Lucy's husband Virgil all went gathering in the forest in late June. It was time to go berry picking.

They came to the meadow with thick healthy blueberry bushes growing in it. Already several birds have eaten some of the berries. The girls began to fill their baskets with blueberries

As she dug into a blue berry bush, searching for all the berries she could find, Arabella saw a sparkling light blue glow. She pushed some leaves and twigs out of the way and saw to her surprise and delight, a little fairy with silver and blue butterfly wings and light brown hair wearing a dress made from bluebell flowers. The startled fairy looked up at her in surprise, then quickly took off, flying swiftly on her butterfly wings she flew through the bushes, parting them as if they were clouds.

"Wait, little fairy!" Arabella called, chasing after the fairy. She ran after the twinkling little trail of bluish-silver stardust the fairy left behind. She searched the blueberry bushes but could not find the fairy. Arabella had never seen a fairy before and she was very excited and wanted to talk to the fairy, maybe play with her and be her friend. Behind a large oak tree she thought she saw a blue sparkle. She ran to see. She was now in the forest. Arabella saw an old hollow log lying next to a beech tree some paces away in the distance. She realized it'd be the perfect hiding place for the little blue fairy. She went up to the log and knelt down and peered inside. It was very dark inside and she couldn't make out anything. She stood up. Arabella looked around and realized she was lost. Where was the blueberry meadow? Was it in that direction? Or maybe it was the other way? She called out for her mother, and then called her sister's name and Nanette's. Surely the blueberry meadow wasn't very far away. Arabella walked in what she thought was the right direction. She had to find her mother and the village women quickly before the dangerous creatures of the forest got her. Besides ogres, there were trolls, goblins, witches, dwarf thieves, bandits, dark knights, evil trees, wolves, bears, wildcats, boars, and snakes. And when night came, the undead came out_._

Arabella wandered lost through the woods, looking for the women from her village. She came to a pond and paused to look at her reflection. She saw a small girl of eight with two thick blond braids wearing a plain homespun beige linen dress with plain shoes of brown leather who was lost and scared. "What if the ogre gets me?" She said to her reflection. In despair she sat down on a tuft of grass next to the pond and cried. She did not hear the heavy footsteps through her sobs.

Arabella realized a large shadow had passed over her. She wiped her eyes and looked into the pond, and saw the reflection of her worst nightmare, an ogre. She began to scream. The ogre grabbed her, with one hand over her mouth. His large hand almost covered her whole face. She struggled as the ogre seemed to put her in a sack. The ogre had her in a large burlap sack and he tied the opening tightly shut so she could not get out. Arabella could see little pinpoints of light coming in from the holes in the burlap. Her heart was racing, the ogre was going to take her back to his lair and eat her; she would die a painful death. She began to pray, please God have mercy on me, forgive me for whatever I've done wrong, I'm only a little kid I don't want it to end like this!__


	2. Chapter 2

The ogre was a fast walker and he quickly made his way through the forest to places that Arabella had never seen before. He went through a dark scary forest with evil trees and came to a cave in a hillside that was the ogre's lair. The ogre went in.

Inside the cave it was large enough for three ogres to live comfortably. An ogress was stirring a pot of stew the hung over the fireplace in the back of the cave. The smoke filled the cave, making it hard to see. What little furniture they had was handmade from local trees and very rough. They had a table to eat off of, four ogre sized chairs, a bed with a straw mattress back in alcove that served as a bedroom, a rocking chair and large leather stuffed beanbag chair. There was a wooden cradle in the ogres' bedroom.

There was an iron cage by the cooking area near the fireplace. There also appeared to be a large oven made of stones and bricks. The ogre took his catch in the burlap sack and shoved her in the cage and locked the door with an iron padlock. Arabella was in a cage made to hold a child ten years old at the most. She looked out of the iron bars with great trepidation and fear.

The ogre was about nine feet tall and his wife the ogress about eight and a half feet tall. They both were big boned and portly. The ogres had chartreuse green skin and their most unusual feature was their ears, which were shaped like tubes at the base and flared out into open ends. The male ogre was bald but had thick brown eyebrows and small brown eyes. The female ogress had unruly, tangled brown hair that came to her shoulders and dark gray eyes.

The ogre wore a long sleeved ivory shirt with many stains and loose dark brown pants with a rope for a belt. His large shoes were made from black cowhide, so obviously he must have stolen a cow from a human village. The ogress wore a loose long gray dress with tan patches and the sleeves rolled up to the elbow. She was barefoot.

The ogress stopped stirring the stew and looked at what her husband brought in.

"Look what I've caught, Moira, love. It was just me luck to find a human child lost in the forest, and I thought ye could make human pie out of her, what with the family coming to visit in a few days."

Moira glared at her husband. "Are ye mad? Are ye daft? Ye get into so much trouble, Brutar; ye gonna get the whole clan killed. Ye're always goin' afta the humans' animals and takin whatever meat ya can get from their traps. Then ye killed the hunter and carelessly left the man's head where the other humans could find it. Now this! Kidnapping a human child and wanting to eat her. The villagers will come after us for sure. Have ye forgotten that humans have taken over this world andwhen they band together with their sharp pointy objects they can be dangerous and downright deadly?

"Now Moira, dear, have ye forgotten how much ye love human pie? It's just as much fun to make as it is delicious to eat. It's the perfect dish to serve to the family for our get-together. They'll think so highly of us, having a delicacy like this for dinner. The relatives and neighbors will be so envious." Brutar tried to convince her making the human pie.

"I have not forgotten the divine taste of human pie, we had it at our wedding. Just the thought makes my mouth water."

Arabella grew even more frightened when she heard the ogres talking about making her into a pie, and how delicious she would be. She began to cry.

"Oh, by Orion, I hate it when they do that!" Brutar groaned. "Ye better shut up or else it will go worse for you."

Arabella had no idea how it could possibly get worse. Then she heard the sound of an ogre baby crying, it came from the cradle in the bedroom.

"Now she done woke the baby. I'm coming my precious." The ogress Moira said as she went to tend her baby. She made cooing noises and baby talked as she changed the ogre baby's diaper, which released a terribly noxious foul stench into the air, making Arabella gag and nearly pass out.

"I'll get you the ingredients for the human pie if you'll agree to make it." Brutar tried to get his wife to agree with him.

"All right. I suppose if the villagers or knights do attack, the clan can fight them together. Humans are not nearly as smart or strong as they think they are. Better to eat a human child than to have you constantly licking your lips at our own young one and wanting to put him in the stewpot."

" Me father, mother, brothers and sister-in-law will be here in three days. They'll most likely arrive at noon on Tuesday. We want the pie to be fresh, so I suggest ye kill her on Monday and bake the pie then. Of course, ye'll need to make the crust first." Brutar said. Today was Friday evening, and the sun was going down. That meant Arabella had two days to escape. She had not succumbed to the urge to pass out from the revolting smell the baby ogre's dirty diaper had released, and she vowed she would escape from the clutches of these vile, bloodthirsty ogres, then tell everyone in her village what had happened so that she could get revenge and they could never get the chance to do this again to another innocent child.

"Well, in the morning you can gather all the onions, mushrooms, garlic, maggots, earthworms, beetles, slugs, mandrake roots, poison ivy leaves, fish eyes, duck eggs, stinkweed, peppers, algae, nightshade berries, dandelion leaves and turnips we need for human pie. I've got enough arrowroot flour for the crust. It's getting late, let's have supper and turn in."

The ogres noisily ate their supper of stew and chatted with each other in the highland brogue accent they had and then the ogress fed the baby and they put out the fire and went to bed. Arabella found it strange that except for their evil plans of eating her, an innocent young human being, they seemed like any other ordinary married couple with their first baby, at least from their conversations. Then she thought about the many chickens, pigs, cows, sheep, goats, and even fish whose meat the people in her village ate everyday, and wondered if those poor animals felt like she did before they were killed for food. If she survived this, she may never eat meat again.

When the ogres' snoring filled the dark cave, Arabella searched the pockets of her dress for anything useful. She found a small flask of water and another flask of a healing potion her mother made her carry around with her in case of emergencies. She also found her pocketknife. It was rather unorthodox for little girls her age to carry around a pocketknife, but her mother Bellora was an unorthodox woman and knew that females faced more trouble from the world than males and needed to defend themselves just as well. Arabella knew not to play around with the knife and hurt herself. She sometimes liked to whittle pieces of wood with the knife. It would not be a very effective weapon against the ogres, but maybe she could use it to pick the lock on the cage. She also found her little wooden fairy doll Celandine. She kissed Celandine's tiny face for good luck.

"Please help me to get out of here." Then she opened her pocketknife and began to work on the lock. It was difficult to get a hold of the large padlock from where she was in the cage. She felt it's keyhole and knew she had to be very careful lest she jam the lock. She spent sometime figuring out the shape of the keyhole with her little fingers and trying to imagine how to spring the lock. It was very dark in the cave and she couldn't see, she had to go by feeling. She also had to be careful not to cut herself with the knife. "If only I had some light in here." She thought to herself.

Then Arabella thought she saw a pale blue light out of the corner of her eye. Was she imagining things from all of the stress? The light grew brighter and was coming her way. It was the little blue fairy she saw in the blueberry bush.

"Please help me, little fairy." Arabella pleaded to the tiny magical creature.

"Shhh!" The fairy warned, holding up a tiny finger to her rosy lips. "We must not wake the ogres, they like to use a fairies as torches, and sometimes they even eat us in their stews like they do with you humans. I've come to get you out. We must be very careful."

"Can you open the lock?" Arabella asked her new friend.

The fairy examined the lock. "I could try to open it with my magic, but that would create a lot of light and might wake the ogres up. If only I could find the key." The little fairy quickly searched the cave lair for the key. The key was on the table in the kitchen. The fairy picked up the big, heavy iron key, and discovered how difficult it was to carry. "It's so heavy!" She had a hard time carrying the key, which was just as big as she was and weighed her down. She attempted to fly to the cage with the key, but it so heavy it brought her down and she dropped it. Fortunately the dirt floor of the cave muffled the sound of the iron key, and the ogres could not hear the noise over the racket of their snoring.

The fairy dragged the key over to Arabella, who reached between the bars and grabbed it. She put her pocketknife and doll away and unlocked the padlock, being careful not to drop it and make more noise. She carefully set the padlock down on the earth ground and crawled out of the cage.

"Thank you so much fairy, you have saved my life." Arabella told her new fairy friend in a whisper.

"We aren't safe yet, we must get out of here. Follow me, and hurry!" The fairy flew out of the cave and Arabella followed her.

She ran through the dark, scary forest with the fairy as her guide. She heard roars, growls, snarls, shrieks and moans in the darkness of the night forest. The trees were scary looking and she could have sworn that some of them were mobile, talking evil trees that liked to grab and hurt people, but as long as you kept your distance you would be safe. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, following the blue and silver sparkling light of the fairy. At last, they came to the part of the forest that was familiar to Arabella. She slowed down until she reached the blueberry meadow.

She saw several more glowing lights in the night, and realized these were more fairies. A few tiny fireflies floated near the fairies, they were much smaller and didn't glow as brightly. The indigo night sky was filled with stars and a crescent moon. Arabella looked up and around and was filled with awe at how beautiful the night was. She felt much safer now.

"By the way, my name is Arabella. I would like to know your name fairy, since it seems I am in your debt for saving my life."

"I am Bluebell the blue fairy. It is partially my fault you were captured by that nasty ogre, since I led you astray from the safety of the adult humans from your village."

Arabella noticed two of the other fairies coming closer. One was dressed in red and had red hair, the other had golden hair and wore a yellow flower dress.

Bluebell introduced her to her friends. "This is Poppy," she pointed to the fairy in red, "And this is Daffodil." she pointed to the yellow fairy.

"I'm so happy to be meeting fairies at last!" Exclaimed Arabella. "I've always liked them, I have a little doll my Papa made that is a fairy. My mama always leaves food out for the fairies on holidays. I've heard how pretty fairies are, you are all more beautiful than I imagined."

The fairies giggled at her compliments. "We like you too. Usually we only show ourselves to good children like you, because most adult humans want to take advantage of us. All they want is power, wishes or treasure. I can since that you have the gift of magic in you, it is what helped me to find and rescue you. One day you will become a powerful enchantress with the blessing of the fairies. Let me see your doll." Said Bluebell.

Arabella held out her doll Celandine, and Bluebell sprinkled her with fairy dust, and the wooden fairy doll began to glow with a pale blue light. "Keep this doll with you always and she will act as your magic talisman and protect you from harm. One day when your magic is at its strongest you will no longer need her, and then you must give her away to another special young person destined for great things. You will know when the right time and the right person comes along."

Arabella held the doll close to her heart, and she could feel warmth there, and knew that the enchantment on Celandine was real and strong.

"I will never let her out of my sight!" She swore to the fairies. "Thank you so much, I will always be a friend to the fairies and I hope one day I can repay you. I will do my best to learn what I can about good magic and become a great mage."

Arabella heard someone calling her name. It sounded like the men from her village. "We must go now. Farewell, and good luck." Bluebell said as she and the other fairies flew away.

Arabella heard her father calling her name. She saw lights from torch fires in the distance. "Papa! I'm over here!" She called out.

Her father Garret, Vernon, and several other men from the village, carrying torches, pitchforks, axes, hoes, and sickles came out of the woods to where she was at. Garret gave his torch to another villager, dropped his pitchfork and ran to his daughter and embraced her.

"Arabella! Where have you been? We have all been worried sick about you, you naughty girl!" He held her by the shoulders and searched for any sign of injury. Finding none he looked into her eyes and said.

"How could you just run off like that? What happened? Never mind, explain it in the morning, let's get you home."

Garret took his daughter home and Bellora rejoiced to see her alive and unharmed. They were very glad to see her but also very angry with her for running off and getting lost in the woods.

In the morning she woke up and wondered where she was. Then she remembered the events of last night. Arabella got out of bed and went to the dresser where she saw that her fairy doll Celandine still had a faint bluish silver glow. The fairy's blessing was with her. She began to get dressed. Miranda woke up.

"You're going to get it." She smirked.

"What do you mean?" Arabella asked her sister.

"You know what I mean. You're in big trouble for running off and getting caught by the ogre. Mom and Dad are going to spank you. They were really worried about you. You run off and almost get yourself killed." Miranda said.

"The fairy distracted me. I saw the fairy in the bluebery bush and then she flew away and I went after her becasue I like fairies and I wanted to talk to her and then I got lost becasue I couldn't find the fairy. But it turned out OK in the end because she was the one who rescued me from the ogre's lair."

"You expect us to believe your special enough for a fairy to save you? You're not a princess why would fairies care about you?"

"I don't know, but they gave me a blessing and said I had a destiny as an enchantress." Arabella said.

"Hahahhah! Now I know for sure you're making this up! Mom will give you extra licks for lying, you brat. You better come up with a better story."

"But it's the truth!"

Just then, Bellora opened the door and strode in. "I'm glad you're already dressed, young lady, we have some talked to do." She grabbed Arabella by the arm and took her out of the room and into the living room.

"Sit." She ordered.

Arabella sat down on the couch. Her father Garret was there with a stern expression on his face an he had his old leather belt handy, the one used for punishment when the girls misbehaved serious enough to deserve a spanking.

"Before we went into the forest I gave specific instruction for you not to wander off. All of the children knew and understood the rules and the danger. Yet you deliberately disobeyed and left the safety of the group to go into the forest alone and unprotected where dangerous creatures like the ogre could get you. You are very lucky to be alive and in one piece. Why did you disobey me and the other mothers and leave the group in the meadow? What were you thinking?" Bellora questioned her daughter.

"I know I should have stayed where it was safe, but I saw the most wonderful thing in the bushes. I saw a fairy, Mama! I followed the fairy into the woods because I wanted to talk to her and get to know her, you know I love fairies. But she disappeared, and then when i was in the forest I got lost, I looked for the fairy and then I looked for you but couldn't find anyone. When I got to the pond the ogre came and got me. He put me in a sack and then took me to his home in a cave. He had a wife and in his cave he put me in a cage. They were talking and they planned on eating me, they were gonna make a pie out of me, I was so scared and it was so gross, but I had a few days to escape. After they went to bed I tried to pick the lock on the cage, but it was dark and I couldn't see. Then I saw a light in the window, it was the fairy, she came in and she got the keys and let me out of the cage and we escaped together. When I was far enough away in the forest I met two other faires and the fairies gave me their blessing. Bluebell the fairy says I have magic, that I have a destiny as a great enchantress. She blessed my doll Celandine. Then Papa and the men from the village came and took me home."

"Fairies? So that's your story. That's quite a tale you're telling. If you did see a fairy, haven't I taught you that not all fairies are good, some are evil and like to lure people away to their doom? You should know better. Now you say the fairies tell you that you'll become a great enchantress. Are you putting on airs and making up yarns to cover your misdeeds, missy? I know about fairies and what a dangerous, fickle lot they can be. From now on, whenever I tell you tostay somewhere, you better stay there and not wander off, or else you may wander into a fiend's stewpot as you discovered last night. This world is dangerous and it takes brains to survive."

After berrating her daughter for her disobedience, foolishness and recklessness Bellora spanked her with the belt, making Arabella cry. When it was over she did not want to go back to her room where Miranda was so she went out to the garden.

Her father and mother grew the usual fruit and vegetables for food, cabbage, lettuce, spinach, potatoes, corn, turnips, tomatoes, pumpkins, carrots, onions, squash, beans, peas, cucmbers, broccoli, sunflowers, apples, pears, cherries, and strawberries. The various cooking and healing herbs they grew included chamomile, St. John's wort, peppermint, garlic, rosemary, sage, thyme, parsley, basil, oregano, ginger, dill, mustard, lavender, anise, chicory, yarrow, and licorice. The vegetables grew in orderly rows with dirt paths dividing the garden into sections, the herbs were planted outside the kitchen, most grew in pots. The strawberries had their own patch of ground as did the sunflowers and lavender. Because of the large amount of different kinds of produce they grew, the family garden was quite large, and Garret often had to hire friends or relatives to help with the work.

There was also red rose vines climbing up the walls of the cottage that her mother planted for the using the flowers in perfume, and just to add beauty to the place. Garret made a lattice work wood frame leaning against the cottage walls to hold the rose vines as they grew through the years, growing thicker sending branches up and out entwining around the strips of maple wood in the support frame. There was a rose bower with a bench and lattice work forming an arch overhead, it made a comfortable seat and pleasant niche to view the garden in. Arabella's bottom was too sort to sit down right now. She did look over the pretty frgrant red roses blooming on the vine. One particuliarly beautiful red rose in full bloom stuck out from the vines and lattice. Arabella touched the rose's stem and brought it close to her face to smell its sweet fragrance. She gently touched its soft velvety petals. After playing with the lovely rose a for a few seconds she let it go. She heard the sound of buzzing bees and realized some bumblebees were going after the nectar in the roses and other flowers in the garden. The lavender, sunflowers, and squash, pumpkins, strawberries, and other vegetables and herbs had their flowers in bloom.

Arabella knew that all you had to do to avoid being stung by a bee was stay still and out of its way. She left the roses and looked at the sunflowers and lavender. She bent down to smell the sweet scent of the pale bluish purple lavender spikes of flowers. She knew that her mother would make her and her sister weed and water the garden as part of their chores soon. Bellora would do part of the work herself too of course.

Arabella noticed a tiger swallowtail butterfly flying around the flowers, seeking nectar just like the bees. It was a beautiful insect. Butterflies reminded her of the fairies, and right now she was angry with the fairies. Bluebell had gotten her into a lot of trouble ever since she first met her in the blueberry bushes.

After walking down the dirt paths in the garden Arabella came to the apple orchard. She strolled through the apple orchard and then through the pear and cherry orchards. The apple trees had green, unripe apples on them, some of the pears were ripe, and a lot of the cherries were ripe. Arabella decided to go back into the house before she got into more trouble.

When she went to the kitchen door she met her father there. He was carrying a metal pale of milk from their cow. She opened the door for him and he went in the kitchen and set the bucket of fresh milk on the counter. Her sister came in next carrying a basket full of eggs she had gathered in the barn from their hens. She also set the eggs on the counter. Her mother was inside, she had already gotten some fresh butter and buttermilk for pancakes. She got some flour, salt, baking powder, and the blueberries from yesterday and began to make blueberry pancakes.

Bellora told Miranda to make some breakfast tea, and Arabella to set the table for breakfast. They did so. When the pancakes were ready the family sat down at the kitchen table and Garret said the blessing. Then they ate the delicious blue berry pancakes with blueberry syrup and butter. The delicious pancakes did make up a bit for her unfair spanking, Arabella thought.

The rest of the day went by as usual, Arabella sulked and the other members of the family mostly left her alone. Bellora was lenient on how she did her chores.

A few days later things returned to normal. Arabella told her friends what had happened to her, and some said she was lying about the fairies telling her she had magic powers. They began to tease her. Her best friend, Nanette, remained loyal to her.

Arabella was afraid to go to far away from her house, she never left the village anymore, and she dreaded the forest. She did not ever want to go back into that forest again, not even to visit the fairies, she feared the ogres might catch her again and this time there would be no escape.

Arabella expressed a strong desire to learn magic. Bellora had already started to teach her daughters the art of natural medicine, and as they were growing up she decided to step up their teaching. She knew a little magic and was very good at making potions.

Miranda and Arabella were very healthy children because their mother insisted the family eat a healthy diet of green vegetables and yellow vegetables, beans, fresh fruit, olive oil, whole grains, low fat milk, and the occasional lean protein from chicken or fish. They would sometimes eat lean beef, eggs, or bran muffins with raisins for a treat. The girls also got plenty of exercise helping their father plant the fields, working the garden, helping their mother with the housework and playing with the other village children. They were rarely sick and when they were their mother knew what kind of cure to use.

Both girls took an avid in making potions. Arabella wanted to learn magic because of what the fairies told her. Bellora started with simple cooking lessons. Then she went into lessons on how to make perfume, soap, tea, and jam. Arabella became bored making mundane things and wondered when she would get to the magic potions.

Finally, Bellora started her daughters off on a simple potion to remove warts. Miranda had a wart on her hand. Arabella's potion just made another wart appear on her hand, and Miranda grew angry and slapped her. "Don't hit your sister!" Bellora yelled at Miranda. "Now try your potion." Miranda poured a drop from the little glass bottle her potion was in onto the warts on her hand. The first one slowly began to fade. She poured some more drops on them, and they both began to fade. Her potion worked!

Arabella pouted. "Why did her potion work and not mine?"

"I don't know, this was your first potion, it takes time to learn to get it right." Her mother said. "Keep trying, I'm sure eventually you will make a good potion that works."

Arabella worked hard at making potions, and her next potion was a sleeping potion to help cure her insomnia and her problem with nightmares about the ogres. It worked, but unfortunately she slept for three days before waking up. When she woke up her throat was bone dry with thirst and she was famished. She drunk several jugs of water and ate some bowls of porridge, apples, beans, and cheese. After she had recovered she studied her magic books to find out what went wrong. She spent less time playing with her friends and more time studying her mother's old books on magic, medicine, plants, anatomy, and folklore.

The next potion she tried was much more successful. It was a lotion to cure a rash that her father had. She followed the direction in the book precisely and this time it came out right. Garret's rash was cured. Some of the villagers had a problem with pests and parasites, named lice and fleas, so she made up a special shampoo that would kill the lice or fleas in people's hair. Only problem was it made the hair rather dry and left the scalp a bit sore, but it did kill the lice. Bellora and her daughters also came up with a shampoo for animals that would kill the parasites in their fur. The solution for rats was to get cats to get rid of them.


	3. Chapter 3

_The days and weeks passed by since the ogre incident, and soon turned into months. Soon it was autumn. The time came for Halloween. _

_Arabella had to work hard on the family farm getting in the fall harvest and helping her mother make the potions she sold in the shop. There was also a lot of cooking to do in order to prepare for the fall harvest feast. They had to gather apples to cook in meat dishes, to bake or fry, and to make into apple butter, sauce, cider, turnovers, strudels, streusels, pies, dumplings, cakes, and custards. Besides the apples they harvested pumpkins, squash, corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes, beans, onions, turnips, pecans, walnuts, and hazelnuts. _

_Arabella helped her mother cook the fall vegetables and fruit. The sweets were mainly reserved for Halloween. She picked out a large pumpkin along with her sister and they carved it into a ghastly grinning Jack-o-lantern for the most magical of all nights and lit it up with a candle. Bellora roasted the pumpkin seeds and made a pie out of the inside of the pumpkin. _

_The women of the village prepared a Halloween feast with lots of treats for the children. It was actually for everybody in the village to enjoy. _

_Bellora's mother, Phoebe, Arabella and Miranda's grandmother, would be visiting Wheatfield on her broomstick. She was the wise woman of the town of Oaktown, a prosperous but small merchant town twenty-five miles down the road from Wheatfield. Oaktown was closer to the capitol city of Heather wood, and you had to pass through the forest to reach it. Phoebe was not really a witch, although she was the town healer and wise woman and she did know a good deal of magic. She was a devout Christian and taught her only child Bellora the virtues our Lord and savior Jesus Christ taught us in the Bible. Phoebe became a healer because she wanted to help people and relieve people of their suffering. She practiced charity like the first followers of Christ did. _

_However on Halloween she liked to have fun and dressed up as a witch and flew on her broom. She had a black cat named Jet that she brought with her. She gave broomstick rides to the children, her broom had safety belts on it. The children loved the friendly, kindly old Halloween witch who gave out treats and made the spooky night fun for them. _

_A lot of the villagers of Wheatfield visited the graves of their loved ones on Halloween and prayed for their souls. Some claimed to have seen ghosts, zombies, werewolves, vampires, trolls, goblins, ogres, imps, gargoyles, fairies, dragons, walking skeletons, bad witches, elves, satyrs, and were cats in the nearby woods or in the graveyard on Halloween night. Some people have been greatly injured or killed by them. The villagers knew ways to protect themselves from the undead and magical creatures. Wearing a cross protected one from nearly all evil undead creatures and from wicked fairy folk too. So all children who went trick-or-treating in the village wore crosses, even if they were made of wood, around their necks. _

_Bellora made her daughter's Halloween costumes. Arabella dressed up as a fairy, she wore a costume identical to the one her doll Chloe wore. Miranda went as a witch. Arabella's costume consisted of a sky-blue, pale pink and lavender dress of silk with a blue bodice laced up with gold ribbons decorated in gold lace and pink rosebuds, baggy three-quarter length sleeves gathered up and trimmed in gold lace with one sleeve pink and the other lavender, a tiered skirt in alternating colors of lavender, pink and blue with the same gold lace trim and rose buds that came to mid-calf length. For fairy wings Bellora used some sturdy silver-plated wire twisted into the shape of butterfly wings and covered in white gauzy fabric with painted spots of sky blue, pale pink, and lavender, and decorated with some silk roses glued to it. It was attached to Arabella by gold ribbon loops over the shoulders and a gold ribbon sash tied at the waist. To top off the costume she wore a garland of silk roses with silk ribbons at the back in the colors of her dress. Her shoes were white leather. _

_Miranda's costume was a black and purple velvet dress. The dress had a bodice divided at the sides with the front panel being black and the side panels being purple with a thin strip of gold braid in between. The sleeves started off as tight purple velvet on the upper arms, then ended with long black gauze ruffles with little gold spots on the gauze. The skirt was purple velvet trimmed in gold braid at the hem with two divided layers of black gauze with gold spots hanging down the sides over it. A typical tall, pointed, broad-brimmed black witch's hat with a wide purple ribbon ending in a big bow in front was the perfect headgear for the costume. She also had an amethyst brooch set in gold pinned to the collar of her dress and black patent leather shoes. Both girls wore small gold crosses. _

_Bellora was to supervise the children's Halloween activities. She also dressed up along with her children. She came as the Autumn version of Mother Nature, wearing a tan and amber colored dress with a pattern of fall leaves in red, orange, yellow and purple colors with a large wreath of autumn leaves, flowers, and berries in her hair. Garret got involved too, he was dressed as the Green Man, the male spirit of nature and the forest guardian. He wore dark green trousers and brown leather boots with leaves attached to them, a long, long sleeved green wool tunic with moss, silk leaves, acorns and twigs covering it, and a green clay mask of a man's face peaking out of layers of grape leaves. _

_As their costumes clearly showed, the girls' families had plenty of money. Arabella knew her friends would be jealous of her beautiful fairy dress. She could wear it to church at Easter, May Day, Mother's Day, Midsummer's Day, during fairs, festivals, parties, and weddings. She had other, warmer clothes that she wore during the winter days and at Christmas. _

_The girls carried large baskets with them to collect their candy and sweets in. The children met in the village square to watch Granny Phoebe ride her broom into the village. _

_Arabella and Miranda met their friends Karen and Nanette. Karen was dressed as Little Red Riding Hood, in a hooded red wool cloak over a yellow dress that went well with her dark brown hair. The cloak was new but the dress was at least a year old. Nanette wore a white bed sheet as a ghost. She wore one sheet with a hole cut out for her head and arms that covered her body, with a white dress underneath of course, and a white pillow case over her head with holes cut out for her eyes, nose and mouth. It was the same sheet she had worn last year, and it was shorter on her this year. Rosemary wore a pink princess dress trimmed in white lace that was the best dress she owned, along with some faux pearls, she had a faux pearl tiara. Danielle had a fancy gypsy costume that consisted of a white blouse, a burgundy vest with gold fringe, a royal blue and burgundy skirt with a geometric pattern to it and gold fringe. She wore lots of semi-precious stone jewelry along with her colorful garb. Colleen was dressed as a ghost, in a white sheet with holes cut out for her eyes, nose and mouth._

_Jared was dressed as a pumpkin, his mother made a plump pumpkin costume with long orange tights that covered his legs and arm coverings. The pumpkin over his torso and hips had a smiling face, so it was really a Jack-o-lantern. He looked very cute. Stephen was dressed as a red devil, in a suit, a red cape and red devil horns. Adam decided to dress as the grim reaper, in a black hooded robe with a skull mask. Billy decided to come as an ogre. He made a mask out of a green sack, wore green gloves and put on ragged burlap clothes like the ogre wore. He did this on purpose to aggravate Arabella. _

_Billy tried to scare Arabella. He came up behind her and grabbed her by the shoulders, trying to roar like a real ogre in her face when she turned around. She screamed, and then got mad, hitting him with her empty basket. "You jerk! I hope the fairies make you sick with the flu." _

"_Did you just put a curse on me, you little witch? My dad says you and your whole family are witches, and the fairies come from the Devil. You and yours are all going to hell one day. I'll bet you put a spell on the ogre, that's how you escaped from him. The Devil will come for you one day, you and your mother and grandmother, and you'll be thrown in a lake of fire and burn forever. _

_This frightened Arabella. "But I'm not a witch, my mom and granny are healers. On Halloween you're suppose to be pretend to be a witch. We're healers, we help people!" _

"_For a price." A shout of excitement rose up from the crowd of children gathered in the square as Granny Phoebe arrived on her broom with her black cat and her big bag of candy and treats. _

"_She rides a broom like a witch, she got the power from somewhere, I wonder who?" Billy smirked. _

_Arabella was terribly upset by his suggestion. Could her dear sweet grandmother really have made a pact with the Devil in return for magical powers? What if Granny just pretended to be a Christian so no would suspect? No, it couldn't be true. She knew her grandmother and mother better than that. She could not believe the village bully and jerk over her own dear beloved granny who taught her and her mother so much, everything she knew about life. Arabella wanted to get away from Billy, so she walked away and found her sister with Karen and Nanette. _

_Phoebe laughed and cackled loudly and merrily like a real witch would do when in a good mood, and then she scattered down pieces of wrapped hard candy onto the crowd of children below. They immediately grabbed for it, each getting whatever he or she could, but they knew better than to fight each other for it, because the 'witch' wouldn't like that. She landed her broom on a patch of withered brown grass. Her cat Jet jumped off and went up to the children. He sat down and Arabella came up to him and began to pet him. Delighted, the pretty, big cat with luxurious thick velvety inky black fur began to purr and rub his head against her. Miranda ran to her grandmother and gave her a hug. _

"_Look, nana, I'm a witch now, just like you!" Miranda said proudly, showing off her costume. _

"_Yes, dear, let me look at you, you look lovely, what a wonderful costume, my how you've grown since I last saw you. Your mother certainly is a better seamstress than I am. I need a little help from my sewing friends to make my best fancy dresses. Did you know my best friend in Oaktown is Susie the seamstress? She has her own business that's booming even though that nasty tailor Stanley Sham tried to drive her out of business. I'll tell you the story later, Bellora would love to hear it." _

_Arabella stopped petting the cat and went to give her granny a hug. "Happy Halloween, Granny." she said. _

"_Oh, my, how beautiful you look, just like a princess, oh, I see you're a fairy princess. Well, Bellora sure knows her stuff when it comes to making you girls' costumes. You both look beautiful." _

"_Now, children, for some fun! "Who did the pumpkin go to the ball with?" _

"_Cinderella!" the village children shouted back. _

"_Which princess is the laziest?"_

"_Sleeping Beauty, she slept for a hundred years." _

"_Which princess could be mistaken for a vampire?" _

"_Snow White, she has skin white as snow and lips red as blood." _

"_Good children, you know your stories. Enough questions. Time for magic broomstick rides!" _

"_Wahoo!" The children were excited and overjoyed, eager for the thrilling broomstick rides. First Granny Phoebe took Miranda and Arabella, then Nanette and Karen, then Jared and Adam, after them Danielle, Rosemary, Colleen and Billy. All the village children got to ride on the broomstick. _

"_Wee!" Arabella was thrilled as she sat upon her grandmother's broomstick, with the leather safety belt buckled around her waist, and her grandmother took off and they rose of from the ground and into the dark hazy twilight. The sun was setting and the western sky had a ruddy glow as the sun sank slowly below the horizon, the sky growing darker every minute. A few tiny twinkling stars were coming out. A chilly wind blew around her as she flew into the chilly Autumn twilight sky holding on to Nana's waist. Phoebe made the broom go faster and made some sharp turns. Miranda was on the long broom right behind her, their grandmother right in front. She circled over the village so girls could get a bird's eye view of the village. She flew over the graveyard, fields, meadows and forests, and then came back. Arabella felt a bit frightened being up in the air and going so fast, but she rode the broom many times before and knew Granny Phoebe would let no one, especially her, fall off and it was ecstatic being able to fly like this. Finally the Oaktown witch returned her and her sister to the ground and gave the other children a chance to ride. _

_There were other games, bobbing for apples, snap apple, where and apple was hung from the ceiling of a house by a string and you tried to grasp it with your teeth. There was a pumpkin carving contest, that Sally the barmaid won. _

_Finally it was time for the Halloween feast. The whole village gathered at the village church and a delicious fall feast was prepared that night. There was apple cider, tea, coco, water, milk, ale, mead, wine and beer to drink, ( the alcohol was for the adults only) and roast turkey, pork, beef, chicken, fish, deer, rabbit, potatoes, turnips, salads, corn, many kinds of bread, pumpkin soup, sweet potatoes, beans, pumpkin bread, apple dumplings, apple turnovers, apple pie, apple streusel, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, caramel apples, fudge, zucchini bread, and chocolate-covered apples. Everyone pigged out at the feast. Both the kids and adults had fun that Halloween and no one got hurt by any of the undead or monsters that appear in abandoned places looking for lone victims. _


End file.
